SETI’s hunt for intelligent life goes on regardless

fter hibernating for more than seven months, a set of radio telescopes run by the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute has once again begun listening for signals from the many alien planet candidates discovered by NASA’s Kepler space telescope, researchers announced Monday (Dec. 5).

“This morning, at 6:18, we began re-observing the Kepler worlds,” Jill Tarter, director of the Center for SETI Research at the SETI Institute, said Monday during the Kepler Science Conference here at NASA’s Ames Research Center. “We’re just extremely excited to be back on the air today.”

11 Responses to SETI’s hunt for intelligent life goes on regardless

Methinks they should carry on regardless-> regardless of what other people may think. However me(also)thinks they need to evolve their methodology and include looking into the evidence for ETs on Earth.

SETI just doesn’t get it. There simply is no good reason to assume that life will be anywhere else but earth, and, without a discovery of life on an exoplanet, there is no good reason to claim any planet is earth-like.

There simply is no good reason to assume that life will be anywhere else but earth, and, without a discovery of life on an exoplanet, there is no good reason to claim any planet is earth-like.

With 100 billion galaxies (at least) and each with 100 billion stars, it is not unreasonable to wonder if life could exist elsewhere, even if Earth is an anomaly and rare. And given that Kepler has discovered some planets that at least share similar characteristics of the earth in our close proximity, then there are good reasons to look. And if we don’t look, how we are to know if life exists somewhere else?

And if we don’t look, how we are to know if life exists somewhere else?,, Or should we just give up?

No each of us should ‘look for life out there somewhere’ as earnestly as each can til each has found ‘the source for all life’ in the universe, for certainly life did not, and does not, arise by dumb, blind, material processes, EVER!!! And certainly ‘life/consciousness’ does not spontaneously arise from material within each of our continual beings of existence, thus this mysterious ‘life force’, that is ‘out there somewhere’ in the universe (and beyond), must be identified with as much clarity as possible so as to enable that each of us may secure a sure and steady supply of this mysterious ‘living water’ that flows from this wondrous fountain of life.

This is where we need to distinguish between ID and personal beliefs. Determining that design is the probable cause tells us nothing about what or where else that or other agents may have designed.

If anything, the existence of intelligence that designs life would provide greater reason to look for it elsewhere. There’s no reason to think that abiogenesis happened once, let alone more than once.

Even if there were no other intelligent agents, and the one that designed life on earth didn’t design anywhere else, there’s still the direct agency responsible for life on earth. That’s strong evidence that there is something to look for. And, unlike the other “random” life forms SETI searches for, this is far more likely to know of our existence and perhaps wish to communicate with us.

That’s how I reason on it while leaving my religion out of it. We often refer to “the designer” in a singular sense, but that’s more for grammatical convenience. There’s no reason for ID to require a single designer for life on earth any more than for a software package.

IMHO in a design scenario we should expect to find living organisms on other planets, especially organisms capable of technology and scientific endeavors. Well at least at one time- maybe they are all dead and we are the last ones standing… (not)

1 Kings 19:11-13
11 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”